Hi, Reader,

Is your “what-if nemesis” blocking you from doing the thing you want to do?

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been having Reinvention Conversations with awesome humans in my community.

Each person I spoke with is at a pivot point in their work or life and trying to figure out their next chapter.

Here are a few examples:

One woman has recently lost a job she’s had for 15+ years.

Another is feeling disconnected from a sense of meaning in her work that previously fulfilled her.

A third person I talked to suffered two big losses within a year -- end of a relationship and loss of a key client in her business.

One person I spoke with was recently nudged by her boss to apply for a significantly more senior leadership role within her company.

Different circumstances, different stages of life and work, and yet there was one theme that emerged consistently:

Everyone I spoke to felt stuck in what-if overthinking.

• What if I can’t get another job?
• What if I can’t figure out how to grow my business?
• What if I take this role and completely fail or hate it?

Ahh, the what-if nemesis!

Whenever we face uncertainty and the unknown, it arrives with gusto and hijacks our thoughts.

And because of our brains’ negativity bias, the what-if nemesis is fantastic at making us think about all the ways things won’t work out and loves to ignore all the ways they might work out better than we imagine.

The result?

Like the people I spoke with, you feel stuck.

Even though you might have an idea for something you want to do to move forward, you can’t seem to actually do it.

One of the women I spoke with told me she had actually created a whole plan for adding a new workshop to her business, but has been so overwhelmed with her fatalistic what-if scenarios that she hasn’t moved forward with it.

And not moving forward is chipping away at her confidence, giving more fuel to her what-if nemesis. “See, I’m right! Your business is not going to work out!”

Ugh.

I have been there. I don’t know a single person who hasn’t.

When we face the unknown, the brain worries about possible danger that lies ahead, and it ruminates on all the worst-case scenarios in an effort to prepare for them.

But it doesn’t really prepare for anything.

It just drains your energy and blocks you from doing the thing you need to do.

But you don’t have to let it.

You have a secret weapon that can put your what-if nemesis on its back feet:

Action.

Action is so much more powerful than thoughts.

The moment you take just one step in the direction of your goal, desire, or objective, your what-if nemesis loses its grip on you.

The more steps you take, the more your brain devotes its resources and energy to what you’re doing and what you want to do next, leaving a lot less energy for your what-if nemesis.

It’s all about attention: Your brain will direct its resources in the direction of your attention.

If you focus your attention on action, you have less attention to focus on ruminating about the worst-case scenarios.

So this was my advice to the awesome humans I spoke with during the Reinvention Conversations and that’s my advice to you if you’re at a pivot point in your work or life and are stuck in what-if overthinking:

Take action.

Imperfect action.

Small action.

Awkward action.

ANY action.

You don’t have to take the best next step. You don’t need to optimize it.

Just take a step forward.

• Reach out to a colleague.
• Write a post on LinkedIn.
• Spend 30 minutes journaling about what feels deeply good and meaningful to you, so you can begin to understand what you want to prioritize in your next role or job.

Every single action you take has huge benefits.

You learn something. You discover something about yourself and what you want or don’t want. You find a thread you want to pull on more. You feel a sense of progress. Momentum.

Momentum is your what-if nemesis’ nightmare.

Once you feel a sense of progress and momentum, you’re in control. Which means your what-if nemesis has lost its grip on you.

Do I promise you that it will just shut up forever?

No way.

It will pipe up over and over, trying to block your progress with its gloomy what-if scenarios. You’re human, after all, and it’s human to worry about the future.

But the more action steps you take, the quicker you can shut up your what-if nemesis when it pipes up.

And at some point, you might even learn to laugh at its attempts to block you. “It’s cute how you think you can scare me into doing nothing when I know that doing nothing is the worst thing for me,” you might say.

Do now, think later.

If this sounds like a careless motto, I assure you that it’s the most potent prescription for getting unstuck from overthinking.

Now, enough reading.

Go do a thing.

With joy,

Nataly

P.S. 💥 TOMORROW! On Wednesday, July 31st, at 12pm ET, I'll be hosting the 100th (!!!!) episode of The Awesome Human Podcast! I'll be sharing a major announcement and 5 lessons I've learned about reinvention and thriving through change in the past few years.

​Click this link to register to join me live!

If you register but can't attend, we'll send you the recording!

P.P.S. 🌟 I’m putting the final touches on a fall program to guide you through my brand-new reinvention framework so you can get clear on what you want to do next and take action to make it happen. I am REALLY excited about and will be sharing details soon!

If you’d like to be added to the waitlist and be the first to hear about it, just reply to this email and let me know.
​